Thames Clipper

gadjah543

Hi there, we are off to London for half term next Saturday. We are looking for something a bit different to do on Sat evening and fancied an evening river cruise but they seem really expensive. Someone told me about the Thames Clipper boats

Can you use it like a tourist boat and what are the best stops to get on at to see the best riverside views of London?

Thanks

p00hsticks

We love the clippers and always try to go on them when we are on a London break. Timetables and route plan here
http://www.thamesclippers.com/

Yes you can use it like a tourist boat - the only difference is that there is no commentary - but you'll spot and hopefully recognise the sights yourselves.

Best value is to buy a 'River Roamer', which gives you unlimited travel for the day and lets you go on and off as you please. You can get 2-4-1 with train tickets here

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/t/thames-clippers.aspx

I'd suggest getting on at either Embankment (north bank) or London Eye (south bank), which is the most upstream point for the main service, and travelling downstream as far as you can - they turn round at the O2 during the day, but in the evenings some go further down as far as Woolwich (through the Thames Barrier) - and then back.

In our experience the staff are usually happy for you to just sit on the boat to wait and make the return journey.

Loads to see on the journey - off the top of my head you have the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Tate Modern, Globe, Saint Pauls, Golden Hinde replica, HMS Belfast, The Tower, Tower Bridge, Cutty Sark, Greenwich, Canary Wharf, O2.

and you can get a up a fair lick of speed once they open the throttle after Canary Wharf!

It's also fun to do the journey at night - it always surprises us how dark it is on the river itself, and it's interesting to see the sights lit up and watch out for the laser marking the Greenwich meridian.

You can break your journey anywhere - Bankside is good for Tate Modern (free) and the Globe. There's a separate less frequent daytime service (which you can also use your roamer ticket on) which goes upstream from Tate Modern to Tate Britain at Millbank.

Tower is (obviously) for the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. If you weren't going so soon, I would have recommended applying for free tickets to see them locking it up for the night as something a bit different , but unfortunateley there won;t be time for oyu to get tickets for this trip
http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/WhatsOn/theceremonyofthekeys

You can check here to see when Tower bridge will be raised
http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN/BridgeLiftTimes/

donlt underestimate how long it will take - it's about an hours journey from end to end, with a wait of about twenty minutes to turn round - so about two and a half hours to do a whole round trip without getting off.

gadjah543

What a fab and detailed reply. Getting really excited about doing the trip. We are coming to London by train so will definitely use your link.I have heard about the keys ceremony so will look into that for our next visit.Thanks again

RaiderHammer

The only downside is that they may go a little quicker than the other tourist boats, because they are I beleive just a transport method like the underground and buses. We went on one once I think you can stand at the back where there is an open section. Go from either Westminister or London Eye down to Greenwich. Then you can see Westminister, London Eye, all the bridges including Tower Bridge, St Pauls, HMS Belfast, All the buildings at Canary Wharf, the O2 (Dome) etc.

discplayer

RaiderHammer wrote: »

The only downside is that they may go a little quicker than the other tourist boats, because they are I beleive just a transport method like the underground and buses.

For that reason I'd look at City Cruises. They're slower and most, if not all, their boats have fully open top decks which are much better for sight seeing.

p00hsticks

discplayer wrote: »

For that reason I'd look at City Cruises. They're slower and most, if not all, their boats have fully open top decks which are much better for sight seeing.

We've always found the view from the Clippers fine, especially if you sit at the front, where they have lovely wide windows.

If you do go for City Cruises though, note that you can also get 2-4-1 on their roamer tickets with the train offer
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/city-cruises

As I see it plus points for the the Clippers are;

1) All day Roamer tickets are much cheaper (£19 for City Cruises - compared with £13.60 for the Clipper). Half that in each case if you can make use of the 2-4-1 offer. (A simple return on the City Cruises is £11 compared to £12 (2 X £6 singles) on the clipper).

2) City Cruises only go downstream as far as Greenwich, The Clippers will take you to the O2 all day and Woolwich in the evening.

3) Clippers are more frequent and run much earlier / later in the evening (I can't get to the City Cruises timetable as at present but I think they finish at around 6pm - which may be a particular concern for the OP, who was looking to go on a Saturday evening).

4) Clippers serve more piers.

Whilst plus points for city cruises are

1) You get a commentary

2) They have an open top deck. (Nice in summer but perhaps not so much of a plus point this time of year! )

3) They (possibly) go slower that the Clippers. I'm not sure about this one - The Clippers don't get up much of a speed for the main 'sightseeing' part of the journey as they are stopping so frequently between piers. They do open up the throttle between Greenwich and the O2, but there's not a great deal to see on that stretch and the comments I've seen suggest that some people (particuarly kids) actually enjoy it when it goes faster there.

Stompa

p00hsticks wrote: »

As I see it plus points for the the Clippers are;

1) All day Roamer tickets are much cheaper (£19 for City Cruises - compared with £13.60 for the Clipper). Half that in each case if you can make use of the 2-4-1 offer. (A simple return on the City Cruises is £11 compared to £12 (2 X £6 singles) on the clipper).

And there also seem to be discounts for Travelcard holders etc. with Thames Clippers, I can't see any mention of a similar discount with City Cruises on their website.